Last season the Patriots were one of the youngest teams in the NFL. With each free agent we lose to other teams, the Patriots have decided to sign older players to replace the lost free agents. The Patriots have also signed other free agents from other teams who have played more than 10 years in the league.

Are the majority of these free agent signings just practice bodies? Who needs a Strong Safety who has played 13 years in the league?

Last season the Patriots were one of the youngest teams in the NFL. With each free agent we lose to other teams, the Patriots have decided to sign older players to replace the lost free agents. The Patriots have also signed other free agents from other teams who have played more than 10 years in the league.

Are the majority of these free agent signings just practice bodies? Who needs a Strong Safety who has played 13 years in the league?

Last season the Patriots were one of the youngest teams in the NFL. With each free agent we lose to other teams, the Patriots have decided to sign older players to replace the lost free agents. The Patriots have also signed other free agents from other teams who have played more than 10 years in the league.

Are the majority of these free agent signings just practice bodies? Who needs a Strong Safety who has played 13 years in the league?

I was unaware that Amendola was older than Welker, or Donald Jones was older than Julian Edelman/Deion Branch.

Leon Washington IS 2 whole years older than Danny Woodhead. A veritable greybeard.

You want Wilson because he was the second best safety in the NFL two years ago. They were the youngest defense in the NFL last season... some veteran leadership with talent, and likely who will fill starting roles, can only help.

We still are a young team. We needed an infusion of talented vets to balance youth and experience. The pats have done tht primarily with the Wilson, washington, probable abraham signings. I like these 3 guys and think they each will add a great amount of value to this team.

Sure, 2013 WR corps is untested and unproven in our system with a QB who doesn't seem to play well with others, but with Welker gone, maybe now Tom can work with all his WRs instead of giving up because he knows Wes will be there if it doesn't work out with the other WRs.

Sure, 2013 WR corps is untested and unproven in our system with a QB who doesn't seem to play well with others, but with Welker gone, maybe now Tom can work with all his WRs instead of giving up because he knows Wes will be there if it doesn't work out with the other WRs.

nice post. i agree i think the team will be better next year and probobaly more exciting to watch as well.

Sure, 2013 WR corps is untested and unproven in our system with a QB who doesn't seem to play well with others, but with Welker gone, maybe now Tom can work with all his WRs instead of giving up because he knows Wes will be there if it doesn't work out with the other WRs.

Edelman has not been resigned yet. WR group is much worse than last seasons IMO. Donald Jones isn't even a surefire guy to make it out of the preseason.

Sure, 2013 WR corps is untested and unproven in our system with a QB who doesn't seem to play well with others, but with Welker gone, maybe now Tom can work with all his WRs instead of giving up because he knows Wes will be there if it doesn't work out with the other WRs.

Edelman has not been resigned yet. WR group is much worse than last seasons IMO. Donald Jones isn't even a surefire guy to make it out of the preseason.

Sure, 2013 WR corps is untested and unproven in our system with a QB who doesn't seem to play well with others, but with Welker gone, maybe now Tom can work with all his WRs instead of giving up because he knows Wes will be there if it doesn't work out with the other WRs.

Edelman has not been resigned yet. WR group is much worse than last seasons IMO. Donald Jones isn't even a surefire guy to make it out of the preseason.

Sanders would change that for me though.

How is the WR corps worse?

Right now, a lot of the WR group is hype IMO

Welker>Amendola

Lloyd=Lloyd

Edelman=Jones

Here's a couple of things that I've learned over the last couple of years.

1. BB isn't exactly the best when it comes to FA WR's. Moss and Welker were really the only hits. I actually liked Lloyd, but a lot of people seem to disagree.

2. Maybe the same point as number 1, but Brady has struggled to get on the same page with many new WRs. Trust has been an issue in recent years. The belief by some is that losing Welker means Brady will spread the ball more. If Brady does have trust issues with new receivers, I'm more inclined to believe he'll just target Gronk and Hernandez more.

To me, Amendola is a better version of Edelman. Whether he's our number 1 or number 2 WR, he's considered the starter. The most important thing when it comes to your starting players is that they're on the field. Clavicle injury was kind of a freak accident...I'm no doctor, but his torn biceps and ankle injuries suggest his body might be a little fragile.

Donald Jones is a meh type of guy for me. Most people haven't watched a lot of tape on him, the majority of the tape was when he played the Pats. He pretty much had a good game everytime he played us...but this isn't like when BB fell in love with Welker when he torched us. We actually had a good D then, our D has been shaky during the games Jones played us. Ryan Fitzpatrick has had 5 300 yard games the past 2 years, 4 of them against the Pats. Most Bills receivers have good games against us.

At least with Edelman, despite his injury history, we knew he worked in this system.

You can say maybe this new offense offers more upside, but it also offers more risk.

You want Wilson because he was the second best safety in the NFL two years ago. They were the youngest defense in the NFL last season... some veteran leadership with talent, and likely who will fill starting roles, can only help.

Sure, 2013 WR corps is untested and unproven in our system with a QB who doesn't seem to play well with others, but with Welker gone, maybe now Tom can work with all his WRs instead of giving up because he knows Wes will be there if it doesn't work out with the other WRs.

if talib or equivelent and abraham or equivelent sign AND WE DRAFT 3 OF CARRADINE de, HOPKINS wr, ROGERS wr, and BEST AVAILABLE CB; THEN YES WE WILL BE MUCH BETTER

We still are a young team. We needed an infusion of talented vets to balance youth and experience. The pats have done tht primarily with the Wilson, washington, probable abraham signings. I like these 3 guys and think they each will add a great amount of value to this team.

"We still are a young team. We needed an infusion of talented vets to balance youth and experience"

Really impossible to win on this board with some fans. BB remakes the D making it one of the youngest in the NFL and they're too young to win. He brings in some veteran leadership (which they need) and the D is getting old.

As has been pointed out earlier, saying the Offense is getting older with the FA signings is not consistent with the facts.

Good young free agents are expensive free agents. Because of that, BB is never going to bring in many of them. He prefers to get his youth through the draft (and undrafted rookies). In free agency he tends to focus on guys getting their third or fourth contract rather than focusing on the younger second-contract free agents. Those second contract guys are usually in the prime of their career and therefore are quite expensive if they are good and rather mediocre if they are cheap. There are exceptions of course (Welker when the Pats originally signed him for instance), but generallly Belichick sees the most opportunity to find good value with older free agents or (for youth) in the draft and rookie free agency.

The more I think about our new old 34 year old safety, the more I realize that a corpse would be better than what we have had and currently have in Gregory (and the departed Chung). So really even if this guy goes out there and rolls around an oxygen tank...he still will have more range and athleticism than Gregory. Winning!